Setting aside details of the investigation into a deadly shooting, Middlefield Police Chief Arnold E. Stanko and Mayor Ben Garlich spoke to the news media Wednesday about the conditions of the two police officers injured in a shooting Sunday in which the suspected shooter was killed.

"She is in great spirits and hoping for a fast recovery and is ready to get back to work for Middlefield," Stanko said of Officer Erin Thomas who, along with Officer Brandon Savage, is recovering.

Thomas was released from the hospital Wednesday, sometime before 12:15 p.m.

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She was in her last days of field training at the Middlefield Police Department and would have worked alongside the police chief just days after, had it not been for the shooting that injured her left fingers, left leg and right arm, Stanko said fighting back tears. She worked previously as an officer in Moreland Hills.

"I came out of the room after having a conversation with her feeling encouraged. It's a tragic event that impacted people's lives," said Garlich, who had spoken to Thomas earlier Wednesday.

Savage is also out of the hospital, recovering from a knee injury caused by flying ammunition fragments. He is also in good spirits, Stanko said.

"Shots fired -- officer down," was heard over the radio the night of the shooting, words Stanko said "are the most horrific words that any police officer on duty wants to yell out or hear from another officer."

Stanko described the suspect, 42-year-old James L. Gilkerson, of 8752 Andrews Road in Mentor-on-the-Lake, as a "deranged individual who attacked these officers with an AK-47 assault rifle." He said weapons such as the one used should be off the streets.

Information has not been released on whether Gilkerson had a permit for the gun or if a motive has been determined.

At 5:55 p.m. Sunday, Thomas and Savage attempted a traffic stop near the intersection of Routes 608 and 87.

After Gilkerson began shooting at the two, they returned fire, killing him at the scene, police on the scene said Sunday evening.

Because the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Geauga County Sheriff's Office are investigating the incident, Stanko did not have first-hand details and did not speak about the probe.

"(The two officers) said goodbye to their families, kissed their daughters goodbye, Brandon kissed his wife goodbye, and they came to work. Not one time in their mind did they ever think that they would encounter a tragic incident as this," Stanko at the news conference Wednesday.

"No police officer in this United States ever expects to encounter an attack that we have experienced with our two officers."